Bird’s first agri-food project was the Crown Bread and Cake Bakery that was constructed in 1929. Designed by Montreal architect Sidney Comber, the Crown Bread and Cake Company, Ltd. was a mixture of the Spanish Mission and Italianate styles, giving the building a Mediterranean flair reinforced by the red tile roof and arched windows. The 1929 building contract was worth $125,000, while the total cost for the new plant was $300,000. Since this project, Bird has completed hundreds of agri-food projects and has personnel dedicated to planning and executing projects that follow CFIA, FSSC 22000, and other sanitary design requirements.
The thoroughly modern baking plant had a significant proportion of automated and mechanized processes for the time. Approximately 2,000 loaves of bread per hour could be baked in the trade-type travelling oven, which had five furnaces with specially constructed burners. Oil was used for heating the ovens and the building, ensuring that no dust from coal and ashes could contaminate the bread. Among the innovative safety features for the time were buttons that could immediately cut off oil lines, and the installation of concrete and steel stairways throughout the building to create a fire well that would restrict the spread of smoke in the case of a fire. The doors were also made of fire-resistant materials. The boiler room, engine room, and major machinery were all contained within fireproof, reinforced concrete rooms. Each room could be sealed with a fire door.
The wagon yard and garage on the north side of the building adjoined the stables, which were a separate building from the bakery. A local news report described the stables as a “model of cleanliness, being constructed of brick for accommodation of 30 horses”. Bread deliveries were made around the city by 22 horse drawn wagons and two light trucks. The company also had its own private siding at the rear of the building with over 61 metres of trackage.
The bakery was purchased by the Weston Fruitcake Company of Ontario in 1938, which changed its name to Weston’s Bread & Cakes Canada Ltd. The building has been on the Regina Heritage Holding Bylaw List since 1989, and the original hand-painted sign for the Crown Bakery is still visible on the south side of the building.
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